New SPL plan for reconstruction set to spark another bitter political battle

THE blueprint would see the SPL brand binned and a new league with 24 teams in two divisions.

WE can today reveal a new set of SPL restructuring plans that will spark a fresh civil war among Scotland’s clubs.

The 12-team cartel of top clubs were sandbagged last week by SFL proposals for a total overhaul of the game.

However, it’s understood SPL teams plan a get-together tomorrow – two weeks ahead of their next scheduled general meeting – to put their own radical plan on the table.

Their idea includes:

A new league set-up of 24 teams in two divisions.

A 14-game play-off system between the bottom four clubs of the top tier and the top four clubs of the second tier.

Binning the now-toxic SPL brand.

Their proposal is almost identical to one put forward by former SFA chief executive Gordon Smith nearly a decade ago.

The process will involve inviting 12 teams from the SFL to resign and join them in their fresh venture, a move sure to spark a major political battle between factions already at each other’s throats.

It will infuriate those behind the SFL’s 16-10-16 plan unveiled last week, which included plans for a pyramid structure, play-offs between the top two divisions and a distribution model aimed at enhancing the entire game.

MailSport understands a meeting took place on Friday between the chief executives of all three bodies – the SFA’s Stewart Regan, Neil Doncaster of the SPL and SFL supremo David Longmuir.

However, this new proposal was not on the agenda and is certain to meet opposition from the lower-league clubs so outraged by the SPL and SFA’s behaviour during the Rangers crisis over the summer.

The SFL’s counter-plan, though, has no chance of seeing the light of day with strong opposition in the SPL ranks.

Celtic and Aberdeen are understood to be vehemently opposed to the plan, although for differing reasons.

The top flight will still examine a 16-team model of their own as a fall-back position. The SPL currently has 16 shares, despite only 12 of them being in current use.

After two years of all the parties being at loggerheads, it’s believed there is finally an understanding that change must come.

The danger is the SFL’s plan needs consensus, which it won’t achieve, and the SPL’s idea will require a mass U-turn from some of the clubs who stood firmly against them in the summer.

It’s believed the top-flight hierarchy are depending on the desperation of the full-time clubs struggling in the cash-deprived SFL to forget their morals and jump ship.

An SPL source last night said: “There is a real appetite for change and this is the boldest plan we’ve had yet.